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​Goals and Progress​

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​Environmental Leadership IndexThe Government of Mecklenburg County tracks its performance in reducing its environmental impact using an aggregated measure called the Environmental Leadership Index. This index is currently comprised of nine measures that reflect the principles in the Environmental Leadership Policy.

The County’s long-term goal is to meet or exceed consistently an Index score of 85 percent, which indicates that 85 percent of its operations are moving towards a smaller environmental impact.

Mecklenburg County’s Environmental Leadership Index Score reflects four different areas. Thirty-five percent of the score comes from emission reduction results, which includes energy use and fleet emissions. Thirty-five percent comes from resource conservation results, which includes recycling, land protection, and purchasing. Fifteen percent comes from commitment, which includes employee engagement and department integration. Fifteen percent comes from stewardship enhancement, which includes new and innovative practices and continuous improvement.

2015 Environmental Sustainability Goals

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6 percent reduction in energy use from a 2012 baseline.​

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​Reduce NOx emissions from the County’s fleet by 0.5 percent from a 2009 baseline, calculated using a rolling 3-year average that started in 2014.

In Fiscal Year 2014, Mecklenburg County successfully reduced both electrical and fuel use, began resetting the recycling baseline based on a new internal waste reduction & recycling policy, and continued to follow environmentally preferable purchasing habits. The County did stall on employee engagement with fewer mass transit riders, environmental volunteering, and environmental education participation. Reflecting this result, only 24 percent of County Departments achieved a "Green Light"(which signals that they hit 85 percent or more of their departmental goals) on their Environmental Action Plans.

Overall, these results are reflected in Mecklenburg County's Environmental Leadership Index score of 73%. The goal each year is to have 85% of its operations performed in a manner that conserves and protects the County's air, water and land resources.​